Author: sellingtothesoul

Human beings are terrible at buying these things, simply because it is almost impossible to sell the future.

What we’re good at is the ‘now.’

Right now!

When we buy a stake in the future, what we’re actually buying is how it makes us feel TODAY.

We move up all the imagined benefits and costs of something in the future and experience them now. That’s why it’s hard to stick to a diet (because celery tastes bad today, and we can’t easily experience feeling healthy in ten years). That’s why we make such dumb financial decisions (because it’s so tempting to believe magical stories about tomorrow).

If you want people to be smarter or more active or more generous about their future, you’ll need to figure out how to make the transaction about how it feels right now.

Early adopters want to buy a different experience than people who identify as the mass market do.

Innovators want something fresh, exciting, new and interesting.

The mass market doesn’t. They want something that works.

It’s worth noting here that you’re only an early adopter sometimes, when you want to be. And you’re only in the mass market by choice as well. It’s an attitude.

The people bringing new ideas to the public are early adopters themselves (because it’s often more thrilling than working in a field that does what it did yesterday), and often default to using words that appeal to people like themselves, as opposed to the group in question.

More rarely, there are a few people with a mass market mindset that are charged with launching something for the early adopters, and they make the opposite mistake, dressing up their innovation as something that’s supposed to feel safe.

When you bring a product or service or innovation to people who like to go first, consider words/images like:

New

Innovative

Pioneer

First

Now

Limited

Breakthrough

Controversial

Technology

Brave

Few

Hot

Untested

Slice/Dominate/Win

Private

Dangerous

Change

Secret

On the other hand, people who aren’t seeking disruption are more likely to respond to:

Tested

Established

Proven

Industry-leading

Secure

Widespread

Accepted

Easy

Discounted

Everyone

Experienced

Certified

Highest-rated

Efficient

Simple

Guaranteed

Accredited

Public

Of course, it’s important that these words be true, that your product, your service and its place in the world match the story you’re telling about it.

Once you see this distinction, it seems so obvious, yet our desire to speak to everyone gets in the way of our words.

If you were fortunate enough to be raised in the pre television days, you would definitely understand the power of story telling. Most probably, your grand father or mom would spend time telling you a story, either in a gathering with other kids, or as they put you to sleep.

GCPL’s Sunil Kataria says – Research shows that we retain facts more readily if they are presented in narrative form. The very act of listening lights up the brain, persuading it to share in the emotions of well-etched characters.

That’s why, great brands fully grasp the importance of good story telling.

Or consider this TVC for Ericsson Mobile Phones that happened to be the first one to win a gold at Cannes – One Black Coffee Please. You might be interested to know that it was done at an agency called Nexus Equity in 1996, where I cut my teeth as a copywriter.

My favourite of course is the TVC created by O&M. A heartwarming tale of two separated friends, it has been executed on a large canvas. And rightly so, because the brand which is telling this story is none other than Google. It is titled Reunion.

As Seth Godin puts it crisply – people do not buy goods and services, they buy relations, stories and magic.

The good news is, that it can work even if you do not have huge budgets to spend. So, do you think it’s time to put that magic to work for your brand?

Here are some lessons that Donald Trump’s shocking victory has hammered home again:

Know your target audience and their hidden desires: Trump recognised early on the disaffection and frustration among the White Americans who have grown up with a sense of entitlement.

Offer solutions to problems: His radical solutions that included building a wall on the mexico border and restricting entry to muslims received a groundswell of support.

Tap into the power of Single Minded Proposition: Trump zeroed in on one issue (the private email server fiasco of Hillary) and kept talking about it till it gained a currency of its own. On the other hand, Hillary talked about dozens of his misdemeanors, in the process losing focus. Trump’s tagline “Make America Great Again” resonated even with those who did not really subscribe to his polarising and unsettling approach.

Position your brand as the underdog: In a strategy typically adopted by challenger brands (like Apple in the 80s), he garnered sympathy for himself as a victim of the leader brand (in this case, the establishment). He also positioned the leading brand as the villain by virtually hanging the sign “Crooked Hillary” on her forehead and hammering it again and again till her campaign started bleeding.

If you are asked that question, what would you say? Apple? Google? Coke? Microsoft? Virgin?

First, let’s look at what is the definition of a brand – it has a logo, it has customers who buy into its philosophy, it has a revenue stream…

The best brand in the world will logically be a brand that has the biggest turnover and profit, has the highest awareness, has a logo that is the most recognised and has customers in all corners of the world.

The best communication is the one you don’t just read or hear or see, but experience. Don’t you agree?

Here are some brilliant examples of communication that you can never ever forget…

We sometimes forget the cruelty involved in the leather industry. To drill home the point, a store in Bangkok was roped in. People walked in to buy the good looking leather items. But they were in for a shock…

What a simple idea, isn’t it? And yet so so effective!

Want to feel like James Bond… well, here is your chance!

Unbeatable in Impact, the only drawback of campaigns like these is the limited reach. But with the advent of Social Media (especially youtube), even that is taken care of.

Every day, a typical consumer in the west is exposed to over 2000 selling messages! Naturally, it has become a tough task for advertisers to get noticed and to stay memorable.

Here is some advertising that broke the mould and created a wow effect!

What’s common between McDonald’s and the road? The yellow lines of course!

When you are so high up, that people look like fleas!

It need not be Big and Bold. Small and Subtle can be equally effective.

Kitkat has long been at the forefront of innovative advertising. Here they are, taking advantage of the fact that the bench woodwork looks uncannily like their product.

Wonderbra, in case you don’t know is a lingerie brand that sells bust enhancing bras. They created this idea at the metro stations. While the yellow line tells people how far from the track they need to stand, a second yellow line was used to demonstrate that those who use the product need to be even further back.

This was executed in India by a hair care product brand. Eye grabbing, isn’t it?

So what does it need to create such attention grabbing communication, you ask?

It’s simply an ability to use the medium itself. Be it the zebra crossing lines by McDonald’s, the yellow safety lines by Wonderbra, or my favourite – the Frontline flea and tick spray for dogs.

Even when you’re sitting quietly in a room without any expressions at all…you are communicating – ‘I wanna be left alone’.

For ages we have been reading & hearing the necessary things to live – food, shelter & clothes. Is this all we really need coz we also know humans are social beings. This implies that though we are living but definitely we do not have a life till we socialise. To socialise, we surely have to communicate with others. Now, to communicate doesn’t mean that we just have to blast all our thoughts, views & emotions on to others. Communication is always 2-way. So you have to keep your ears & eyes open for others to express.

Sometimes we’re stuck & think on how to communicate with others and we forget the basis of communication – express ourselves in a way understood by the…

Your logo is the very foundation for your brand. And great logos reflect its soul. They tell a story about the lineage, the character, the culture of the company it represents. In the end, what it says can be the difference between whether the brand flies or falls flat.

Here are 4 things that you should keep in mind while getting your logo designed:

Follow the KISS principle (Keep It Simple Stupid).
Simplicity does not mean boring. It gives power to your design. If you are not able to select between 2 equally good logos, pick the simpler one. It’s that easy! In the Fedex logo, the first thing that strikes you is its simplicity. But look again, and you will also see a forward pointing arrow. Spotted it yet?

Uniqueness pays.
The easiest way your logo can be one of its kind is by making it specific to its core truth – what is it offering and what are its ethos. Make the logo bring out the unique story that your brand wants to tell. In the logo of the dog shelter above, it not only clearly communicates the service, but also brings out the friendliness angle in a highly simple, elegant manner. If you are a law firm, you’d like to connote trust. If you are a play school, you’d like to connote the joys of childhood. If you are an IT company, you could be about confidence, or expertise. The more unique your logo is, the more it will stick in your audience’s mind. Please avoid the temptation of using sites like fiverr which that generate logos as per existing templates and can easily get lost in the crowd.

Who is your target audience?
This is THE big question that you need to answer. If you are redesigning the logo for your company, it is possible that your target audience is not your customers, your vendors, your prospective partners, but your very own employees! Think about it before you brief your designer. The Methodex logo is not just a clever interpretation of the letter M, it also became the symbol for the resurgence of the company by subtly telling the employees – “we are ready to soar”.

Make sure it is scalable.
Your logo is going to do a lot of heavy lifting for your brand, especially if you are a Business to Business company. It has to look equally good on your business card as well as a big hoarding. Even though the logo of this quaint lodge in the himalayas looks busy, it is not only unique to its location, but also looks equally good when scaled down.

Yes, one of the most effective ways to tell your customers that you are serious about your business is your logo. Make sure it speaks volumes about you.